Advances in communication infrastructures and protocols have turned standard computing devices into valuable communication tools. Computers communicate with each other, and with other electronic devices, over networks ranging from Local Area Networks (LANs) to wide reaching Global Area Networks (GANs) such as the Internet.
Other electronic devices have experienced similar transformations, such as mobile phones, Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), and the like. Today, these wireless devices are being used for a variety of different types of communication. For example, current and anticipated mobile phone technologies have transformed these wireless devices into powerful communication tools capable of communicating voice, data, images, video, and other multimedia content. PDAs, once the portable calendaring and organizational tool, now often include network communication capabilities such as e-mail, Internet access, etc. With the integration of wireless and landline network infrastructures, a multitude of new services are arising, and various information types can be conveniently communicated between wireless and/or landline terminals.
Services available over the Internet are referred to as “Web Services.” In a particular case, “Web Services” refer to such Internet-available services when utilizing a standardized platform-independent messaging system such XML. The Web Services roles of the Web Services architecture include service providers, service requesters, and a service registry or broker. The service broker provides a registry and discovery mechanism for such services provided by service providers. While the Web Services protocol stack is evolving and may include many variations, XML-based Web Services include a number of layers including the service transport, XML messaging, service description, and service discovery layers. Each layer has different responsibilities to ultimately facilitate the communication of services over the Internet.
There are some Web Services that are intended to be offered by terminals, such that the terminals will behave as a Web Service Providers (“servers” in the classic terminology). An example of such a service is the Location service being defined by the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA). There are also Web Services that are to be directly used by terminals as Web Service Consumers (“client” in the classic terminology). An example of such a service may be an e-mail client embedded into the terminal using Web Service Protocols to connect to the mailing server.
There are at least two basic problems regarding Web Services offered or directly used by mobile terminals. First, the terminal needs to be addressed in both cases. The need for addressing may be trivial if the terminal operates as a server, but may also be needed if the terminal acts as a client. Even in the latter case there may be individual Web Service requests initiated by the server on the Internet, as there are, for example, in MM7 which is an OMA Web Service interface. In this case the HTTP doesn't solve the problem alone, but the terminal must be explicitly addressed.
A second basic problem is that the terminal owner's privacy should be protected. However, even the Mobile Station Integrated Services Digital Network (MSISDN) or the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) address associated with the terminal is considered to be a personal data, as the user's behavior can easily be traced on the Internet with these identifiers. Therefore, for user privacy, third parties on the Internet should not know the mobile user's SIP address, MSISDN number, or other globally unique identifier.
These two issues are contradictory. Currently, the MSISDN number, SIP address, or other global identifier of the terminal would be used for terminal addressing associated with Web Services. A Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) push could be used to “wake up” the terminal, and the global identifier then used to address the terminal. However, user privacy is compromised in such situations.
Accordingly, there is a need in the telecommunications industry for a manner for addressing terminals without divulging private information of the terminal or terminal user. The present invention fulfills these and other needs, and offers other advantages over the prior art addressing approaches.